However, earlier this month the Pubs in the Community report from the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group showed that pubs are currently closing at the rate of 36 a week – or 1409 in a year.

The Group’s report published earlier this month indicated that overall pub numbers have been falling slowly for twenty years, but the last three years since the introduction of the Licensing Act 2003 has seen an even more dramatic decline.

Figures released today by DCMS show that the number of premise licences to sell alcohol increased by six per cent over the last year, with the number of people authorised to sell alcohol increasing by nineteen per cent.

Premises with 24-hour licences have also increased in number, with an extra fourteen per cent of premises now benefiting from these allowance. One of the biggest increases within this area is reflected in the growth of supermarkets with all-day licences – an additional 200 stores appeared to have been licensed since March 2007.

Some of this growth in licences is a result of changes in the structure of the licensed estate however, as pub companies close, merge or take-over each other, necessitating the need for new licences. Some of the headline figures will also be explained by the need for existing pubs and clubs to obtain new premises licences when undertaking refurbishments or structural changes, particularly to comply with the anti-smoking laws and disability access requirements.

Peter Coulson, Legal Editor of trade paper The Morning Advertiser, said that some of the growth was merely a reflection of under-reporting by licensing authorities last year, and more accurate statistics this year.

The figures also reveal growth in the number of private members’ clubs certificates – up by ten per cent – and also a fourteen per cent increase in the number of late-night take-aways which have presumably grown to meet the burgeoning demand of the late-night economy. However, there has only been a one per cent increase in temporary event notices, to 119,100.

Over hundred areas of the country are now covered by cumulative impact policies, making it harder for operators to apply for new or extended alcohol licences. Some councils have designated more than one cumulative impact policy area – Doncaster, Greenwich and Leeds have five apiece, whilst there are four each in Bournemouth and Westminster. Bexley, Birmingham, Hastings and Newcastle upon Tyne have three each. It would be interesting to see a correlation between 24-hour drinking in those towns and cities.

Just over 1000 premises have had their licences reviewed in the last year, with nearly 90 per cent of them arising from applications by responsible authorities – the police, environmental health or trading standards – or interested parties.

Thirty premises were reviewed under the expedited review provisions following serious crime or disorder at the premises (three per cent of the total), and fifty-three arose as a result of a closure order. Thirteen club premises certificates were also reviewed.

Most reviews were brought about due to crime and disorder (sixty-two per cent), followed by public nuisance (forty per cent). Child protection issues led to thirty-nine per cent of the reviews (commonly sales of alcohol to under-age children) and public safety concerns formed the balance.

Greater Manchester and Westminster councils - two of the largest in the country - faced the most appeals against their decision, having to fight seventeen and seventy-five appeals respectively.

Many licensing authorities had no appeals lodged during the last year, with only 279 recorded across the country.

How the figures for licensed premises in particular will look next year after they have been credit-crunched will make sober reading.

The Pubs in the Community report can be downloaded from the Institute library under Alcohol and Entertainment/Official Reports.

The DCMS Licensing Statistics will be placed in the library shortly, and be downloaded from http://www.culture.gov.uk/referenc...ns/5571.aspx